Chapter 78: 045. Imperial Prince is Hunting Beasts -1 (Part Two)

-Ku-oooooh!

Redmoon crouched lower. The overwhelming rage it was feeling right now caused its black fur to change to red colour. Its whole body ballooned up; the muscles expanded and thick veins visibly bulged among the fur.

Redmoon had to lower its head due to how small the cavern was. Its eyes burned in rage while glaring at Hilda.

-A woman who knows no honour, I shall…!

Hilda closed her eyes. “Oh, the god of war Heim…”

Redmoon in unchecked rage rushed towards her position.

“Protect Lady Hilda!”

The dwarves quickly gathered in front of her and raised their spears.

However, Redmoon ignored them all. The spears mercilessly stabbed its whole body.

But the lycan, despite all the spears piercing its hulking body, viciously swung its arms amidst the dwarves and flung them all away.

Just before it could take an almighty swipe at Hilda with its claws…

“Grant a pair of swift legs to your faithful follower.”

She opened her eyes and watched the lycan’s claws descend on her position. Despite the claws being a mere hair’s breadth away from touching her face, they were so slow.

She evaded them all in the blink of an eye.

She moved so fast that only afterimages were left behind in her wake.

Hilda dug into the lycan’s opening with the speed that far outstripped the undead monster’s.

“Grant your blessings of the battlefield on the spear of your faithful servant.”

Divinity gathered on the spear’s blade.

Hilda stomped hard on the ground and thrust the glowing spear at Redmoon’s chest.

Staaab!

The spear’s blade pierced right through the lycan’s chest.

The wound expanded in a spherical shape with the spear at the centre before exploding, leaving behind a gaping hole.

At the same time, the dwarves standing by the sidelines thrust their own spears forward and stabbed Redmoon, forcing it back.

-Ku-aaaaahk!

Despite Redmoon stumbling backwards, Hilda still grumbled with dissatisfaction, “Can’t you just sit still? It won’t do to damage the stuffed animal meant to be a gift for his majesty.”

-You! You monsters!

Redmoon alternated its glare between Hilda and Archbishop Raphael.

They were both monsters! They were even more insane than the Vampires, and to make matters worse, their strengths were superior to the undead too.

Only now did Redmoon realise it.

It finally realised why the Vampires were so frightened and chose to keep their heads down while hiding amongst the humans. It realised why even the Progenitors of Vampires dared not provoke the Imperial Family.

They were ruthless, insane, and absolutely dangerous existences, that’s why!

“So you’ve now become aware of it, undead? Indeed, we’re monsters.”

Redmoon hurriedly looked behind after hearing the old man’s voice.

Raphael had just finished turning the other lycans into ashes and was now leisurely walking towards it.

“…Only by becoming monsters can we possibly hunt creatures such as yourself.”

A sword of light penetrated into Redmoon’s back.

With divinity pervading its body, its spine began burning away. The lycan felt the scorching sensation of its back bones, intestines, and ribs melting away.

“Now choose. How do you like to die?” Hilda asked.

Redmoon gritted its teeth and shifted its gaze to the front.

Hilda slowly walked up to the lycan. “Will you become my stuffed animal? Or…”

Redmoon then looked behind it.

“Or will you burn to ashes?”

Raphael finished her sentence.

Sweat trickled down Redmoon’s face.

The two monsters were closing in on it.

Redmoon deeply sucked in its breath.

-Kuwaaaaahk!

After roaring out, it dashed towards Hilda.

She gripped her spear tightly and lowered her posture once more before digging into the incoming undead. “You’ve made the right choice. I congratulate you on becoming a new trophy!”

She and the dwarves stabbed their spears forward.

However, Redmoon used its arm to block the attacks.

The divinity-laden spear punctured its hand and the limb quickly exploded. Meanwhile, its whole body now resembled a hedgehog with all the spears sticking out.

An arm as tall as an adult human fell with a thud on the ground. But even then, Redmoon simply ignored both its lost arm and Hilda, and ran straight past her.

Hilda tutted unhappily. She never expected that the lycan would discard its arm in this manner.

Redmoon shed tears of blood. Ashes continued drifting away from the lost stump of its arm.

It madly dashed outside the underground tunnels to emerge outside, and into the disused and forgotten graveyard.

The lycans in the surroundings looked lost and confused by this scene, but they suddenly burst into flames and turned into ashes themselves.

Terrifying noises kept coming from behind as Redmoon ran away. The noises scared its already frightened mind even further.

-D-don’t kill me… Spare me…!

There was still a chance.

It must survive. Yes, it definitely must. It simply couldn’t afford to die like this.

-Don’t kill me… Please…!

It continued sobbing away while dashing through the forest. It turned its head briefly to look behind.

The two ‘monsters’ showed up by the mouth of the graveyard, glaring at Redmoon with eyes filled with madness.

The fleeing lycan’s eyes widened even further than before.

It even screamed as horror gripped its heart.

-Ah, ah, aaaaah-uwaaaaahk!

Inside the woodland called the red moon forest, the lycan was nothing more than a weak little beast.

**

(TL: In 1st person POV.)

This was a tale from a long time ago.

-All of you, start calling me Your Imperial Princess-nim!

The dwarves stared at a young human girl who happened to be even shorter than they were.

In fact, the girl couldn’t have been older than twelve, maybe thirteen years old at a push. She was grinning mischievously like a little troublemaker, maybe because of her young age.

She confidently placed a hand on her chest and announced proudly, all the while standing tall on her small frame.

-I’m the Theocratic Empire’s First Imperial Princess, Hilda Olfolse! I’m the noble personage that will become your master! Eh-hem!

It was rather mystifying to learn that such a young girl rescued these dwarves from slavery. What was even more puzzling was the fact that she was going to be in charge of this Hilda fiefdom temporarily too.

-So take good care of me from now on, shorties!

That was the first encounter between Hilda and the dwarves.

-I didn’t wet my bed!!!

One day, Hilda did wet her bed by accident.

She cried and protested, but the dwarves simply laughed away.

Naturally, she got angry and kicked them in the asses.

The dwarves then watched her master the ways of spearmanship.

Her shoddy movements eventually caused her to fall down on her butt. However, the dwarves helped her up every time that happened. Eventually, they crafted a spear that suited her physique better.

After reaching adulthood, she headed back to the imperial palace and stayed there for some time. She was tutored properly in the art of spearmanship while staying there. She was also granted all authorities related to Hilda fiefdom.

The dwarves bore witness to Hilda’s growth and development for many years.

She granted them freedom, and even prepared a place where they could call home as well.

To return the favour, they voluntarily served, looked after, and watched her grow.

In almost all the steps leading up to her adult life, the dwarves were there, guiding and helping her along the way.

And Hilda became the most precious person to all the dwarves.

Once I finished listening to Belrog’s tale, I kind of understood why they were so obsessed about her.

I looked at Belrog and spoke my honest impression, “What the heck, you guys were basically her dads.”

Belrog flinched nastily and hurriedly shook his head. “Your highness! There’s the difference in stations to consider! Please be more careful with what you say. We were originally slaves, so you mustn’t even think about saying we’re her fathers! Especially more so when his highness the Crown Prince isn’t with us anymore. You must not carelessly utter those words out in the open.”

Despite all of his protestations, he didn’t seem all that displeased by the term ‘father’. I could simply tell by looking at the content grin etched on the dwarf’s face.

All around us were dwarves kitted out in silver-hued armours.

We were marching through the gaps between hard and dark-coloured trees at the moment. They called this place the red moon forest or something.

I asked aloud. “So this is the nest of the lycans, is it?”

“That is indeed so, your highness.”

One of the Verdant Cross members responded to me. They scanned the darkened forest’s floor before unhesitantly heading in some direction.

“Since the lycans live here, can’t we just burn the whole forest down?”

“Regrettably, the trees found north of the forest are called ‘nordin wood’. They are sometimes referred to as forged steel made out of wood, your highness. Not only do they possess the characteristics of resisting fire, they are also one of our most important natural resources. Their economic value comes only second to our mining operations.”

Their toughness rivalled forged steel and not to mention, they were also valuable resources, he said.

Apparently, the lycans weren’t behaving this boldly a few months ago and it was business as usual back then. But after the Vampires practically vanished overnight, the lycans suddenly began unleashing their vicious side.

I looked around the area.

The Verdant Cross members were exploring the surroundings and rapidly advancing forward.

I asked another question to the Crimson Cross knight next to me. “You know, doesn’t it feel like we’re moving a bit too fast?”

“How so, your highness?”

“The lycan’s nest. I thought we didn’t know where it was?”

The Verdant Cross was moving really quickly.

The dwarves, the Crimson Cross, and myself were being guided by them into the forest.

A Crimson Cross member glanced at the Verdant Cross doing their thing and replied. “They are specialised in exploring forest environments like this one, your highness. They are most likely uncovering traces left behind by her highness’s abduction.”

“Isn’t this still way too fast for that, don’t you think?”

“Their specialised field is different from ours, your highness. We are the judges. While we’re tasked with duties of torturing and uncovering the betrayers of our faith, and punishing them appropriately…” The Crimson Cross member glanced at the Verdant Cross group. “…They are the trackers. They focus mostly on the pursuit and hunt of the enemies, as well as collecting necessary intel.”

Well, I could see that the Verdant Cross guys were agilely dashing over here and there before carefully scanning the ground and moving on.

I called out to them. “Oiii!”

One of the Verdant Cross members rapidly approached me and knelt down, bowing his head.

I asked him. “Do you really know where my sister has been taken to?”

“Yes, your highness. We’ve located her traces.” He then pointed to a spot on the ground. “There, that’s a trace left behind by her highness.”

I peered real closely at the ground before looking at a different spot.

For sure, there seemed to be a slight indentation there, but I couldn’t see much difference between that and the other bits of normal ground.

I glanced at the Crimson Cross guys for confirmation, but they also shook their heads as if they couldn’t tell either.

The Verdant Cross member nodded in understanding. “Such a trace is only recognisable to us, your highness. While stepping on the ground, one usually leaves behind a foot imprint that matches the surrounding nature. However, the trace itself is far too faint and there is a danger of it disappearing with the passage of time. Surely, even the lycans haven’t thought about such a thing, your highness.”

It seemed that the lycans hadn’t considered the possibility of humans leaving behind their footprints as traces on these dried-up grounds.

It was then, a rather familiar stench assaulted my senses.

I urgently blocked my nose and frowned deeply.

I quickly shifted my eyes around and peered into the darkened forest. “…Get ready for battle. The bastards are coming.”

I was right; a large red-furred lycan covered in wounds from head to toe was rushing towards our location while being accompanied by other blood-creations.

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